The Flying Emporium

The next morning Severin was in surprisingly good spirits.

Initially he had prepared himself for a long night contemplating the day’s events, expecting little sleep and an accordingly wretched next day.

But in the end he had been so tired that, in a matter of seconds after his head touching his soft and comfortable cool pillow, he fell asleep.

Feeling all the better for it.

After all, dwelling on these issues-that was the newly revealed information regarding the System- would do him no good. Nothing he could do about it, either. It would only lead him to wild speculations and a terrible mood.

Which he now feared he would then take out on Emily. Again.

And that wouldn’t do.

Not when it was something he actually had control over-opposed to all the other events that happened the day before- and when the alternative led to him being guilted into putting the girl into immediate danger.

He would not allow his brooding and irate nature to ever again affect the girl like it had the week before.

Or so was his resolution; if Severin, though more aware of his at times difficult personalty than one might expect, would actually be able to change for the better, would remain to be seen.

But at least this morning and despite everything, he was trying his best to make a conscious effort.

Not even the prospect of today’s flood customers, the first signs of which could already be seen on his ever-present minimap as he walked through the underground passage that connected to the kitchen, could change that.

Leaving his self isolation during which he had greatly suffered creating these small, annoying metal spheres which earned him only a pittance, for the first time after days, he now joined his employees’ communal breakfast.

Though torn as he feared he would ruin their last few quiet moments, Severin felt it his responsibility to give them a heads-up of what to expect.

Today would likely be their busiest day yet, and it would only get worse over the next couple of days and weeks, he warned them.

The response were some grunts and moans but overall the reaction only confirmed what he had already suspected and that his workers were already-painfully-aware of this fact. This also including Krill and Sabina, who despite their complaints being equally restrained as those of the two system-bound [Employees], looked even more deflated than them.

And Severin had a good idea as to why; especially when it came to the woman.

Most importantly, it wasn’t because any one of the two groups was any more hardworking or diligent than the other.

It was because of the distinct difference of the nature of their respective jobs.

The potions wouldn’t distill faster because Emily put in more effort.

The bread wouldn’t bake any faster because Bandur willed it so.

No, fundamentally, the biggest challenge for his two [Employees], would be the decreased downtime between their tasks- meaning fewer and shorter breaks- the tasks themselves, however, and their working speed would largely remain unaffected.

That wasn’t to say they would have it easy. But it was different for the two regular, non-system-bound workers.

They were the ones who would have to deal directly with the customers. That in itself already put more than enough additional pressure on them, and while Krill could at least depend on the safety of his counter and could demand the customers to form orderly lines-all under the threat of otherwise not being served–, Sabina could not.

On the contrary. Severin strongly suspected the woman’s constant running between kitchen and the cafe’s many tables, amounted to a distance that rivaled that which most actual adventurers covered each day.

Without a classbearer’s enhanced stamina and strength, that was.

Even with most customers so far generally having been respectfully enough, Severin understood the pains of having to deal with so many people.

And with an increase of customers would also, inevitably, come an increase of bad apples. With their demands, their impatience, and their insults. All of which only be amplified when dealing with a non-classbearer.

And as everybody knew, a few bad apples are enough to spoil the whole bunch.

Severin didn’t envy the young woman and, not for the first time, reminded her not to hesitate reporting those troublemakers directly to him.

An offer, which, to his great surprise, but also his gratification, so far she had not made use of even a single time, a fact that only raised his opinion of her; not because he was reluctant banning people-paying customers, even- but because of the tenacity it spoke of; even if said tenacity was misplaced.

Still, just the thought was enough for Severin to spontaneously promise the two employees a raise to lift their spirits and morale.

As for the [Employees], as their salary was based on a percentage of the overall profits in the first place, he didn’t feel quite the same necessity to similarly adjust their salaries as well.

Since he could not risk any sort of animosity forming between the two groups, however, he didn’t want to let these two leave empty-handed either, and promised them a onetime bonus.

But even then, something else entirely needed to be done.

While any form of additional pay would surely help his employees and [Employees] alike, endure the coming days, a way to downright decrease the burden on them would not just be preferable, but also much more sustainable.

As such, and just as spontaneously as his idea to give them a raise, he came up with another one.

But instead of immediately implementing it, he first wanted the get the opinions of the people it would actually affect.

“Another point,” Severin said, chewing his breakfast. “I thought of making some changes to our menu. Make it more dynamic. Meaning restrict certain products to certain times of the day. Like bread only in the morning. Similarly to how we handled things in the past. What do you say? I figured that should make things easier for you two.”

You two naturally referred to Sabina and Bandur.

Surprisingly, the rejection came immediately, and from the person he least expected it from. Namely Sabina herself, the one who would benefit the most of this change, hence once again raising his opinion of her.

“That won’t do. Boss,” she hastily added the word. “That might fly in the regular eateries I have previously worked in, but not here. People don’t come here for the food. Not exclusively, at least. They come for the buffs. They expect the buffs.

And they plan whole expeditions around those.

Sure, they could still just order for take away whenever the right food is available, and stock up on things before going on a longer trip, and most already do, but these people always try to maximize their buffs uptime.

They come to eat in our cafe right before dungeon diving as to maximize their efficiency and the amount of food they can take with them. That just doesn’t seem right.” At this time Sabina took a deep breath and for a moment seemed unsure whether to speak her remaining thoughts. But she ultimately did and added,

“If you ask me, you should instead simply increase your prices. A few gold coins for a meal… it’s absurd, but… but even I understand these people would be willing to pay even more. Much more. Even if some didn’t, overall, that would still mean greater profits, I’m sure. And less work.”

Severin just in time stopped himself from rolling his eyes at her.

Not just because he reminded himself of his newly made resolution or because it would be incredibly rude and unbecoming, but because she was obviously well-meaning in her suggestion.

Still, he could not keep entirely quiet, as this was a very sore point for him.

<> he began cursing in his mind so that it could only be heard by the two people who were already well aware of this issue, while at the same time trying his best to maintain a neutral expression on the outside, making non-committal hmm sounds.

“Well, then it seems we’ll have to come up with something else. I’ll have to think about your suggestion”, he lied. ”In the meantime, don’t hesitate to make further suggestions. But I fear that is all the time we have for now.

Time to get ready, everyone.”